Bears won't say they're desperate

The Chicago Bears used a lot of words Sunday to convey their disappointment at being 3-5 midway through the NFL season, but cornerback Charles Tillman rejected the description "desperate."

Mike DeDoncker

The Chicago Bears used a lot of words Sunday to convey their disappointment at being 3-5 midway through the NFL season, but cornerback Charles Tillman rejected the description "desperate."

"I'm not going to say we're desperate, but I know we need to win. I like that word better," said Tillman, whose fourth-quarter hit on running back Kevin Jones produced the Bears' only takeaway in Sunday's 16-7 loss to Detroit. "We're out there working. The players are working hard, the coaches are playing hard, everybody's working hard but something's just missing.

"If I knew what it was, I'd be the first to tell you."

Tillman, who has forced four fumbles for turnovers this season, echoed defensive coordinator Bob Babich's assessment that this week's bye is coming at the right time for the struggling defending NFC champions.

"It's going to give us some time to evaluate what we're doing," Babich said. "We have a couple of days to get corrections before we start preparing for Oakland. Any time you're in this position at the halfway point, you're very disappointed as a team. But there's a lot of football to be played, and we're looking forward to the eight games that we have left."

Babich and coach Lovie Smith pointed to losing turnover battles, which the Bears have done six times in their first eight games, as a primary reason for the team's struggles.

"We're about taking the ball away," Smith said, "and, lately, we haven't been able to get any turnovers to talk about."

Tillman said he doesn't think players are feeling undue pressure, despite the emphasis on takeaways.

"They're going out there and doing the best that they can," he said, "and we're just coming up short."

"That's how they won the NFC," Williams told Detroit reporters. "That's how they beat everybody in the division, with turnovers. We only turned the ball over one time, and that's pretty good."

Not this year. The Bears have fallen to dead last in the NFL in turnover margin at minus-10. Last year, Chicago tied New England for fourth at plus-eight.

Smith said the Bears will use the bye week to go back to the basics and "figure out exactly what has gone wrong this first half of the season."

When the Bears resume play Nov. 11 at Oakland, they will be trying to salvage the second half of the season against teams with a combined record of 29-26. Their first eight opponents are 34-21 as Chicago has played six teams with winning records so far.

Tillman is confident the Bears will use the two weeks of preparation to make changes for a strong finish.

"We need to go out swinging," Tillman said. "There's no sense in backing down now. That's the number one thing. You never quit."